Now with Na'Toth all but deposed from her position of influence in the Kha'Ri and currently residing on Kazomi 7 itself, G'Kael had been expecting to be recalled to Narn, or at least to have Na'Toth made Ambassador here. Neither had happened, and in fact there had been no word from Narn other than the regular, run-of-the-mill stuff. The Kha'Ri seemed too set on the war.
G'Kael had once, more out of curiosity than anything else, gone to the G'Khorazhar Shrine, to hear a speech by Ha'Cormar'ah G'Kar. He remembered one thing the great preacher had said.
"This is the doom of mortal beings.... that we shall not see the beast until our heads are between its jaws."
G'Kael was beginning to believe no one back home could see the true beast, and would not until it decided to close its mouth.
But then, as he looked around a Council chamber bereft of the Blessed Delenn, of the Starkiller Sheridan, of the Technomage Vejar and of the Vorlon Ambassador, he was wondering if the Alliance Council could see the beast either.
The big topic of discussion was the refusal of the Abbai to join the Alliance formally. Negotiations, treaty pacts, diplomatic dinners and the like had been going on for some time, until the Abbai had suddenly and abruptly pulled out. Their polite letter did not give a reason, but everyone knew what it was.
"They are cowards!" cried Taan Churok, the Drazi former bartender and Minister for Defence. "Weak-willed cowards. We should let the Shadows take them!"
G'Kael did not see it quite that way. He had not seen these 'Shadows' in person, but he had seen recordings made of the Battle of the Great Machine, or the Third Line as some people were calling it. If these Shadows were as terrifying in real life as they looked in hologram, then he did not blame anyone for not wanting to fight them.
Thus far their ships had not turned towards Narn, despite their Ambassador's promise in this very room. If that did happen, what would the Kha'Ri do? He did not know, and that troubled him. They might decide to take war fully to the Shadows, but then they might prefer to leave the Alliance to its fate. The Narn Regime was not as yet a member of the Alliance, and it was uncertain if it ever would be. For the moment the two governments saw themselves as potentially useful allies, potentially dangerous enemies, and people it would be useful to keep an eye on.
"They are afraid," replied the more pragmatic Lethke. The Brakiri was Minister for the Economy, but he often seemed to take on the duty of defusing dangerous confrontations between the hot-headed Drazi and some of the others. Delenn could of course do that with ease, but she was not here. "We cannot blame them for their fears. They wish to remain neutral."
Delenn had always seemed convinced that there could be no neutrality in this war, whatever people sought. G'Kael desperately hoped she was wrong.
"They are cowards," affirmed Vizhak, Taan Churok's fellow Drazi on the Council. "But they are insignificant in the larger scheme of things. The raids continue. Have all our ships been given telepaths?"
G'Kael stiffened in his chair, and made a point of listening to this intently. For some reason telepaths were a serious threat to the Shadows, and Delenn wanted every ship in the Alliance fleet to have at least one telepath aboard. This was difficult to manage, at best. Narns had no telepaths, and the Kha'Ri dearly wanted a way to create some genetically. Rumour had it that G'Kar had been working on such a project for some time.
"Mr. Bester is dead," replied another voice, one G'Kael did not recognise. Turning, he saw a human dressed in a strange military uniform that was unfamiliar to him. "The Shadows have taken Sanctuary. Therefore there will be no telepaths from him."
Ah, yes. He knew who this was now. Major Krantz, a servant of some human individual named Bester, who was apparently high-ranking in the human telepathic organisation, the Psi Corps. He and the Alliance had had some sort of deal, but now it appeared that this Bester was dead.
Hadn't there been some scandal concerning this Major Krantz? He struggled to remember. There had been a meeting, shortly after his arrival here. Krantz had been.... detained, or arrested, or something. He had been all but forgotten in the aftermath of the battle, and no decision had been taken as to his fate. By the time the Alliance had got around to it, they had lost all contact with Bester. Krantz was therefore here by default, not a member of the Council, but pressed into serving on one of the capital ships.
An aide came forward and whispered to Lethke quietly for a few moments. The Brakiri listened intently, nodded, and rose from his chair. In the midst of another argument between Vizhak and the Abbai representative, Ambassador Kalika, about the provision of telepaths, no one noticed Lethke's departure.
They all noticed when he returned, however, a minute or so later. He tapped on the table gently for a few moments until the conversation died, and everyone looked up at him.
"I have just received a transmission from a ship approaching here," he said. "We have.... a most renowned visitor who wishes to make our acquaintance."
"We'll be at Z'ha'dum soon," the Captain said. "I'm not sure what to expect when we get there, but.... We'll have to be ready."
He looked firmly at Lyta, who met his gaze. She then seemed to recoil from it, and looked down at the table.
The Captain, Lyta and Corwin were in the ready room, a place Sheridan and Corwin knew well enough. The upgrade had virtually left this place alone, which was just as well.
"I'll do what I can," Lyta replied numbly. "But I can't hold off the entire Shadow fleet."
"You won't have to," the Captain promised her. "I don't think you'll even need to use your powers.... not if this works out right, anyway. You're more of a deterrent than anything else."
The old Lyta might have come up with a sarcastic retort to that, Corwin thought. The Lyta in front of him did not. In fact, she didn't say anything. She had changed a lot recently. She had been almost invisible for so long, ever since the Vorlon Ambassador had arrived, and then she had come along on the mission a few weeks ago. She had hardly spoken then either.
And then Corwin suddenly realised something. The Captain was so.... confident. Something just did not feel right here.
"What if we do get opposition?" Corwin asked. "I mean.... how exactly are we going to handle this? For that matter, what are we even going to do when we get there?"
"Get Delenn back," came the solemn reply.
"What? Are we just going to ask them to hand her back?"
"Something like that. Look.... David. I realise I haven't been in the driver's seat for a while, and I know you've got used to running the place while I've been.... ill. And I know that you've got too much experience to be running around as second. It doesn't matter anyway, once this is over and we get back to Kazomi Seven, you'll get your own ship to command. You've more than earned one."
"I.... thanks. Where would we get...? It doesn't matter, but...."
The Captain interrupted him. "But I need someone I can trust as my second here. This is.... important. I know it must look so selfish, threatening myself and my crew just to get my girlfriend back.... but I have to."
"I'm not criticising you. No one is. The Alliance needs Delenn. We all do."
The Captain smiled. "Yes.... we all do." He paused, then continued. "The thing is, I've got a plan. I can't explain it to anyone now. You just have to trust me. That's all I'm asking. If it goes right.... and I hope it does, we won't have to fight anyone. We'll just get Delenn back, and head to Kazomi Seven, and we'll get on with finishing the whole damned war.